Some of HOD’s Similarities and Differences to a Charlotte Mason Education
At Heart of Dakota (HOD), we love the Charlotte Mason philosophy of learning. Through the years, I’ve read so much about her philosophy and how to implement it. We followed Ms. Mason’s principles almost completely with my oldest son. Likewise, we follow Charlotte Mason ideas as much as we can in the guides we write.
Charlotte Mason-Style Curricula
Many companies claim to be Charlotte Mason-style curricula and then leave out oral and written narration, copywork, dictation, short lessons, poetry, recitation/memory work and slow reading of excellent, living books. Without those things, there is almost no connection to the Charlotte Mason philosophy. You will find all of those things in our guides.
Charlotte Mason’s Shorter Readings for Younger Children
The sheer volume and type of books consumed prior to middle school and high school in most curricula strays far from Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of fewer, living books read slowly over time.
Charlotte Mason’s Longer Readings for Younger Children
Charlotte Mason advocated shorter readings at the younger levels. However, as students matured, she assigned much longer readings. She also expected students to hold that information in their mind from a single reading. As students near the high school years, it is important they move toward being able to read and process longer readings.
If students are college-bound, the preparation that will be needed to handle the level and volume of reading required to complete college coursework is something we are stair-stepping our way up to doing through the HOD guides. So, while shorter readings were definitely a part of a Charlotte Mason education in the younger years, longer readings were definitely a part of a Charlotte Mason education in the older years. Therefore, longer readings are an incremental part of the increasing volume in HOD.
Charlotte Mason’s Living Books
Only living books can be successfully narrated from. So, if you ask a child to narrate from an encyclopedia-like book with no common storyline, the children will not be able to narrate it well. All those little boxes and snippets of information in that style of book do not lend themselves to being retold easily, nor are they easily remembered. Those books are meant to be reference materials or browsing books, rather than a story to be read from cover to cover. We choose our history books so carefully, in order to make sure Charlotte Mason principles can actually be used with them. The same goes for our science books and read-aloud literature.
HOD Teaches Grammar Earlier
Since we differ from Charlotte Mason in a few areas, we do not call ourselves a purely Charlotte Mason company. But, if you love the Charlotte Mason philosophy, you will find much in our programs that supports that style of learning.
The main area that we differ with Ms. Mason is in the introduction of formal grammar instruction. We do delay it until Bigger Hearts for His Glory, when we begin to schedule Rod and Staff English. Charlotte Mason delays formal grammar instruction until grade 6.
HOD Includes More Hands-On Activities and Unit Study Connections
In HOD, we also add more hands-on activities than Charlotte Mason advocated, although she did do some. We do this for the very active boys in our household who thrive on getting up and moving.
We also like some elements of a unit study and enjoy making connections among subjects as we can. Ms. Mason didn’t do as much of this. She was a strong believer in the children making their own connections (which we also agree with).
In Closing
So, you can see many similarities and a few differences. But, Charlotte Mason is my favorite educator, and you will see much of her in Heart of Dakota (HOD).
Blessings,
Carrie
